Hamilton Wins Fifth British Grand Prix; Ties Clark's Record

by Mark Gero

Lewis Hamilton particiaptes in fan surfing after winning the British Grand Prix for the fifth time Sunday. (Photo by Getty Images)

SILVERSTONE, England—R.I.S.--After tying Jim Clark’s record fifth pole the day before, Lewis Hamilton tied the late Scotsman’s winning grand prix record on Sunday by taking flag to flag the British Grand Prix at Silverstone ahead of teammate Valterri Bottas. Kimi Raikkonen finished third in his Ferrari.

For Hamilton, it is his fourth victory on his home track, to go along with his first win back in 2008. The victory now puts him only one point before Sebastian Vettel, who took seventh.

"The support has been incredible this weekend," he said afterwards on the podium.

Hamilton never really had any trouble with the rest of the field from the beginning of the race, with only his closest fight coming from Bottas, who just missed out overtaking the Briton midway through the race, following Hamilton’s last pit stop. But Hamilton powered on and increased his lead to where he finished 14 seconds ahead of Bottas by the end of the race.

Behind the two Mercedes drivers, a huge battle came between the Red Bull drivers and the Ferraris. Although Daniel Ricciardo came from the back of the grid, Max Verstappen was in a battle all race near the front with Raikkonen and Vettel. Vettel and Verstappen had a fight where the German went too wide and went off the track, damaging his front end. But Vettel had more of an issue while in third, his front left tire flattened, forcing Vettel into the pits on the last lap. Laps earlier, Raikkonen had the same left front tire expire with two laps left in the race, but managed to get a quick stop enough to land himself on the podium.

Jolyon Palmer continued to have his problems in his Renault, as hydraulic issues forced him out even before the formation lap ended. Toro Rosso drivers Carlos Sainz Jr. and his teammate Dani Kvyat, collided on lap one, taking the former out of the race, and forcing the only safety car out of the race for the next three laps. The third and final retirement of the day was Fernando Alonso, who had his Honda power unit fail on the 32nd lap.

Verstappen and Ricciardo finished their Red Bulls in fourth and fifth, respectively, while Nico Hulkenberg took sixth on a fine weekend in his Renault. The Force India duo of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez followed in eighth and ninth, while Felipe Massa finished in the last point position in tenth.

The next race in two weeks’ time takes place at the twisty circuit at the Hungaroring in Hungary, a race which has also been dominated by Mercedes and Hamilton. But for now, his big thanks are for his home crowd.

"I am so proud I could do this for you all. Now the plan is to win the championship." He concluded.

BRITISH GRAND PRIX

At Silverstone, England

Final Race Results

1.Lewis Hamilton (GBR) AMG Mercedes Petronas

2.Valterri Bottas (FIN) AMG Mercedes Petronas -- 14 seconds behind

3. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari

4. Max Verstappen (NED) Red Bull Racing

5.Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Red Bull Racing

6. Nico Hulkenberg (GER) Renault

7. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Ferrari

8.Esteban Ocon (FRA) Force India

9. Sergio Perez (MEX) Force India

10. Felipe Massa (BRA) Williams Martini Racing

11.Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL) McLaren-Honda

12.Kevin Magnussen (DEN) Haas F1 Team

13.Romain Grosjean (FRA) Haas F1 Team

14. Marcus Ericsson (SWE) Sauber

15.Dani Kvyat (RUS) Toro Rosso

16.Lance Stroll (CDN) Williams Martini Racing

17.Pascal Wehrlein (GER) Sauber

RETIREMENTS:

Fernando Alonso (SPA) McLaren-Honda – power unit-lap 32

Carlos Sainz Jr.(SPA) Toro Rosso- accident-lap 1

Jolyon Palmer (GBR) Renault-did not start

Mark Gero

A 16 year veteran of writing formula one racing weekend race reports, features and team launches, Mark has worked for such companies as all-sports, e-sports, The Munich Eye newspaper in Germany, racingnation.com and Autoweek. A former member for this site four years ago, Mark now is a contributor for R.I.S.